American Cinematographer - September 2000 - 63

Western thriller with electric
dialogue. Every character follows a
personal agenda, [and the story
builds to] a murderous conflagra¬
tion. I was very excited by the possi¬
bility of shooting a film that differed
so
radically from those I had previ¬
ously photographed, one that
presented me with a whole new set of

Opposite:
Kidnappers
Parker (Ryan
Phillippe) and
Longbaugh
(Benicio Del Toro)

porary

visual

conduct

a room-

by-room

sweep

of

an

old

Mexican bordello

they prepare
for the final
showdown. This
as

challenges."

McQuarrie told Pope that he
sought a look and style similar to that

page:The
imperturbable

of the 1955 Western Bad Day at Black

contemplates the

Rock, directed by John Sturges. "It

best way to
retrieve his

was

film I knew very

a

well,"

Mr. Chidduck

says

kidnapped
unborn baby.

Pope. "I watched it again with Chris
when I got to Utah. The picture plays
in a very quiet and understated way,
with group
moves;

Director of

photography
Dick Pope, BSC

shots and few [camera]

used additional

practical lamps

it's quite bereft of close-ups.

to cast

It's very still, and you just watch

all of
play off each other with
very few cuts. I think that film was a
great influence on Chris. [As a
viewer,] sitting quietly in a room and
watching what goes on makes it seem
almost as if you are an unseen char¬
acter observing it all. That style is
actually very similar to my work with
Mike Leigh, in terms of letting the
scene play out and allowing the
actors to do the moving. Chris also
the

told

reflections in the

actors

me

that he wanted the film

look like

an

old

print of

an

to

early

Technicolor movie that had become
faded and desaturated."

Though there

discussion
of silver-reten¬
tion process such as bleach-bypass or
ENR, it was ultimately decided that it
would be best not to heap on the
added expense and lose printing
control in certain respects. Pope fully
backed this dictum. "I thought that
[the faded look] should be done in¬
camera, mostly so I could pitch the
degree of the effect according to each
was

of utilizing some sort

scene," he states. "It makes it

more

exciting, really - a challenge.
Bleach-bypass and acceleratedbypass are very well and good, but
they are all or nothing - you can't
really control those processes. In my
opinion, day exteriors with hot skies

picture windows
done with

bleach-bypass
really problematic.
about
ues,

agreed that this film
play best in the straightfor¬
we

ward 1.85:1 format without the

use

of slow-motion

not

a

or

firing

Steadicam. It's

landscape movie; it's about the

characters within the film. Chris said
he wanted to tell the tale

simply with
quietly understated images and real¬
istic but stylized lighting."
To capture such a look, Pope
selected familiar weapons, including
two Moviecam Compact cameras
and one SL lightweight. "The
Moviecams are my favorite cameras,"

shotgun
pointI watched the corner of

pump-action

a

toward the

"[Chris and I] also talked
camera technique," he contin¬

"and

would

be

can

camera

at

almost

blank range.
his matte box, and it

was

rock¬

steady!"
As he had

Topsy-Turvy,
Pope used Cooke S4 prime lenses
and occasionally Cooke zooms. "This
was
my first feature film in America,
and I

on

working at first with
people I didn't know," the cine¬
matographer points out. "I at least
wanted the comfort of using equip¬
was

ment I

and

knew and trusted."

To steer away

from close-ups

tend

toward

more

group

of the time. Ian Fox, my operator,
was on one, while I manned the

compositions, 32mm, 40mm and
50mm lenses were predominantly
used, and the cameramen rarely
employed long lenses or wide angles.
During the many times that multiple
cameras were used,
Pope kept the

other. We had

lenses

on

same

focal

he

attests.

cameras,

and hits

"We

and

were

we

a

crewed for

shot with two

two
a

lot

lot of action, gunplay

to cover, so two cameras,

sometimes three,

were

essential. I

hadn't worked with Ian before, but
he turned out to have a very similar

for composition. He proved
himself to me in the first few days
when he had to track right across one
of the actors who was repeatedly
eye

that would mask
his movie lights.

each

camera as

length

as

close

to

the

possible. "The

32mm, 40mm and 50mm strategy
worked very well for most every¬

thing, even in small rooms," he notes.
"That approach doesn't blow out
rooms, and it gives you a normal
perspective. If we had the 32mm on
one camera, I was
perhaps on the
American

Cinematographer 61
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